The
prison was built by the Japanese government early in the 1920's to house
political prisoners. The architecture was copied from some of the European
prisons that were in use at the time. The prison held numerous "Political"
internees, which meant anyone the Japanese Government considered a risk
to their beliefs, such as, dissenters, Communists, Spies or those that
the military considered to be risks to their war plans.

World War II

The Prison was virtually untouched by the heavy bombardment
by the allied forces, thus when the American occupation forces took over
the operation of the prison only needed minor repairs to make it ready
for their use. The original compound was only 2.43 hectares (approximately
6 acres) in size. The Construction of exterior fencing expanded the facility
to double the original size. The original units assigned to operate the
prison, code named "Stockade 1" was the 35th AAA and two Battery's of the
579th AAA. The 555 MP unit was later assigned to the Prison and was assimilated
into the U.S. Eighth Army when they were assigned to operate the prison.
There were approximately 2500 military assigned to duty at the prison,
however no more than 500 at any given time. The prison was only in operation
by the military forces from December 1945 through May 1952. The structure
had housed some 2000 war criminals during its operation.

Prisoners

The
most notable residents incarcerated in the Sugamo prison were General Hideki
Eiki Tojo (1884-1948) and Mrs. Iva Toguri d'Aquino (1916-)."", and "Yoshio
Kodama" (Japanese godfather).

Hideki Tojo was the prime minister of Japan from 1941
to 1944 and, as such, held accountable for all war crimes committed by
the Japanese Imperial Army. He shot himself just prior to his arrest, but
survived to stand trial. He spent the last three years of his life within
the confines of Sugamo, where he was ultimately hanged in accordance with
the sentence of the International Military Tribunal, Far East.(Pictured with Tojo is Col.
C. Aubrey Kenworthy, Commanding Officer, 720th M.P.'s)

Iva Toguri d'Aquino was a Japanese American who had
broadcast under the name"Orphan
Ann" on the Radio Tokyo program Zero Hour from 1942 to 1945. After
the war, she was identified with the legendary "Tokyo Rose" and investigated
on suspicion of treason. She was confined at Sugamo for a year, a month
and a day from 1945 to 1946 while her case was under investigation and
was eventually released for lack of evidence of any wrong doing. (News
clipping from the "New York Journal-American," dated November 6,1947. (
"Tokyo
Rose and Military escort." A wartime broadcaster was freed by U. S.)
Public outrage over the release of "Tokyo Rose" by the Army, led by popular
radio commentator Walter Winchell, resulted in her being arrested and confined
at Sugamo again in 1948 for the week and a half that it took to arrange
her transportation back to the United States for trial.

There are many stories relating to the Sugamo prison,
most of which have never been made available to either the American or
the Japanese public by the International Military Tribunal, Far East, which
in turn never received the publicity and attention afforded to the Nuremberg
Trials.

Servicemen

The GI's assigned to the prison was held responsible
for the total maintenance of those incarcerated. The prisoners were served
Japanese foods, prepared by Japanese personnel and served by the prisoners
themselves. There were occasions when General Hideki Tojo was serving food
to all the other class "A" prisoners. The prisoners were well maintained,
they were permitted to shave, bathe and recieved clean laundered clothing
and bedding. The prison was well equipped for these tasks. The Red Mess
was operated to prepare all of the foods served to the prisoners. Some
of the vegetables used for these meals was home grown at the compound.
The prison also maintained a full laundry facility to handle both the prisoners
and the American soldiers as well.

Morale

The morale of the troops assigned to Sugamo was very
high due to the nature of the duties to be performed. The prison football
teams performed against other military posts in Japan and was very highly
rated as well as the prison baseball teams. The prison was well equipped
for both these activities as the Post Engineers laid out the proper areas
and used prisoners to perform the construction. The prison also had the
very first bowling alley to be built in Japan. The two lane quonset facility
was very popular with those who utilized it. A PX facility was operated
by the Special Services and it even offered ice cream cones as well as
cigarettes, snacks etc. The Red Cross hut was the spot to relax, play cards,
dominoes or just listen to the many records played on the system. There
were several ping pong tables in use all of the time.

Forgotten History

The history books rarely make mention of the existence
of Sugamo Prison. It would give us great pleasure to help educate the teachers
and school systems so they can give credit to the many Military Units that
played such an important part in seeing that justice had been served with
the trials, sentencing and the executions handed down by the Tribunal.
We are attempting to help make everyone aware that this was not just a
story, but a factual event.

This site is maintained by
Ecclesiastical Creations- http://www.oocities.com/hughouse